Palm Beach developer, wife plead not guilty to tax-evasion charge

Darrell Hofheinz @PBDN_hofheinz

Wednesday

Sep 5, 2018 at 12:01 AMSep 5, 2018 at 3:53 PM

Palm Beach developer Robert V. Matthews and his wife, Maria "Mia" Matthews, pleaded not guilty today to one count each of felony tax evasion before a federal judge in Connecticut. The charges are related to alleged financial improprieties at the still-unfinished Palm House hotel-condominium renovation project in Palm Beach.

Both husband and wife are free on bond with travel restrictions.

Robert Matthews, 60, and Mia Matthews, 48, each face a single charge of felony tax evasion brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. They were charged as part of a 21-count "superseding indictment" returned by the grand jury, although Mia Matthews faces only the tax-evasion charge.

Robert Matthews faces 20 other counts for taking part, according to prosecutors, in a fraud and money-laundering scheme that bilked foreign residents who invested in the Palm House project through the federal EB-5 program. Robert Matthews pleaded not guilty to those charges after being arrested at his Palm Beach home in March and has since been free on bond.

READ the superseding indictment here.

Robert V. Matthews has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts involving fraud, money-laudering and tax evasion brought by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

The charges were announced Friday by the office of U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, acting on an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury. Mia Matthews previously had not been charged in connection with the Palm House case. Each tax-evasion charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Robert and Mia Matthews were arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector in New Haven. He ordered that their trial will be delayed until at least Nov. 5. It previously had been postponed from June until today.

The other defendant in the trial is Palm Beach real estate attorney Leslie Evans, 71, who is facing eight counts similar to those against Robert Matthews. Evans has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Two other men have struck plea agreements in the case and are expected to be sentenced in September 2019.

Mia Matthews has pleaded not guilty to a tax-evasion charge brought the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Mia Matthews was released on a $100,000 bond and can travel only in and among Florida, Connecticut, California, Georgia, Maryland and New Hampshire, the judge ruled. She was not arrested but "self-surrendered" at today’s hearing, said spokesman Tom Carson of the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Between about 2009 and March 2017, Robert and Maria Matthews "willfully attempted to evade paying federal income tax they owed for the 2005 and 2007 calendar years in multiple ways," according to a statement released Friday by Durham’s office. Their methods included using limited liability companies, a company bank account, and an "interest on trust account" (IOTA) administered by Evans "to pay for personal expenses. In addition, after Robert and Maria Matthews received notice from the IRS that a failure to pay their delinquent income tax liabilities by September 2, 2016, would result in the seizure of all of their assets, Robert Matthews sold, on September 2, 2016, a Mercedes for $82,000 and, after paying off a lien, caused the proceeds of the sale to be wired into the Evans IOTA account."

Attorney David A. Ring, who is representing Robert Matthews, said he had no comment on the case. Brian E. Spears, Mia Matthews’ attorney, also had no comment.

RELATED: Matthews, Evans plead not guilty to Palm House charges in U.S. court

Mia Matthews is a singer and actress who won a regional Carbonell Award as best actress in a play for her 2016 performance in After at Zoetic Stage in Miami.

At the time of the alleged crimes, the couple had homes in Florida and Connecticut, according to the indictment. Their Palm Beach house faces the ocean at 101 Casa Bendita.

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Gerry Matthews, who is Robert Matthews’ brother, and Boynton Beach construction executive Nick Laudano in March entered plea agreements in their cases. Gerry Matthews, a commercial real estate broker in Connecticut, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and could face a 20-year prison sentence. Laudano faces a maximum sentence of 40 years after pleading guilty to two felony counts — conspiracy to commit bank fraud and taking part in an illegal monetary transaction.